1K for Coach K: No. 8 Blue Devils rout Maryland 77-56 in Krzyzewski’s 1,000th game at Duke

Scheyer, No. 8 Duke rout Maryland 77-56

DURHAM, N.C. — Jon Scheyer scored 22 points and No. 8 Duke marked coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 1,000th game at the school with a 77-56 rout of Maryland on Saturday in a matchup of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top two teams.

Brian Zoubek had 16 points and 17 rebounds for the first-place Blue Devils (21-4, 9-2). They dominated this matchup by shooting 41.5 percent and locking down the Terrapins, who finished 25 points below their season average.

Greivis Vasquez scored 17 points and Cliff Tucker added 12 to lead the Terrapins (16-7, 6-3), whose late run couldn’t make up for going 7 minutes between baskets in the first half. They were 2 of 13 from 3-point range.

Former Duke players from Art Heyman to J.J. Redick came to Cameron Indoor Stadium to celebrate a double milestone for Krzyzewski, who on his 63rd birthday became the eighth Division I coach to reach four figures at one school. He’s 781-219 in 30 seasons at Duke.

After the final horn sounded, he was presented with a framed Duke No. 1,000 jersey, the players pulled on T-shirts adorned with Krzyzewski’s silhouette and the Cameron Crazies sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

“A guy couldn’t have a better job than I’ve had for 30 years,” Krzyzewski told the crowd.

Nolan Smith had 14 points and Kyle Singler finished with 10 for the Blue Devils — who have won four straight, six of seven overall and 40 in a row at home against unranked teams.

They have rarely been tested at Cameron this season — 14-0 with all but one of the victories coming by double digits.

This time, they held off a late charge by Maryland and kept control throughout against the second-place Terrapins, the last visitors not named North Carolina to win here when they did it in 2007 when Vasquez was a freshman.

Since then, Duke has won all six meetings between the teams, though in his final visit to one of college basketball’s most inhospitable arenas, Vasquez recovered from a rocky start and nearly clawed Maryland back into the game.

Vasquez scored nine consecutive points during a 10-0 run, hitting a jumper to pull the Terrapins within 54-44 with 9:26 to play. Duke responded with a reverse layup by Singler, two free throws by Smith and a three-point play by Scheyer to stretch the lead to 61-44.

That came after Vasquez was held without a point for the opening 16 minutes, prompting the Cameron Crazies to chant “scoreless” at him. By the time he hit his first basket — a floating jumper at the 4-minute mark of the first half — the Blue Devils already were up by double figures for good.

Duke, which beat the Terps by 41 in last season’s visit, looked well on its way to another easy win when they reeled off 15 consecutive points during the early 25-6 run that pushed their lead into double figures. Singler and Scheyer capped the burst with 3-pointers 15 seconds apart to make it 30-14 with 7½ minutes left in the first half.

Zoubek, a 7-foot-1 senior making his first start of the season, was effective in doing the dirty work underneath for the Blue Devils, with one impressive individual effort pushing him into double figures in two stat categories and gave him his first double-double of the ACC season.

After Singler missed a 3-pointer 3 minutes into the second half, Zoubek broke unimpeded down the lane and dunked the rebound to make it 48-26.